Hello everyone! Im Fairly new to LoL (been playing about 5 days) and have so far think its awesome. One of the questions that will probably pop up is, "Why are you making a guide if you haven't even been playin for a week?" This is a great question and the answer is pretty simple. I don't start new games to just be okay at it. When I start new games I strive to learn as much as I can and become as good as I can as fast as possible, so you probably won't see me make any builds that couldn't be successful in higher level tournament play (yea I realize Im not a high rated player, yet, but I have done quite a bit of research and gone through a lot of tournament videos...a lot, lol). Thats just the way I play games and it is fun for me. I am making this guide also as a quick reference for myself to look at since I still haven't gotten all the items and what not completely memorized. I have seen a few guides out there similar to what I think the "best" meta Alistar build should look like but I felt like each of them only got a piece of the puzzle right. Even though this guide is mainly just for my reference I hope that it can help those who read it. I am completely open to constructive criticism as that is one of the ways we learn and become better player, right?

I would also like to say, before I get to the actual guide, that I play Aalistar as a pure support character / tank. If your looking for an AP Alistar guide then this probably isn't going to be your cup of tea. So with that said, Lets do eet!

AA = Auto-attack
Meta = Short for saying "widely considered the best"
Jungle = Area where neutral mobs are (Jungling is the act of farming these mobs)
Carry = Strong DPS that makes up the pressure in your team fights
Mob = Another word for Creep
AD = Attack Damage (Physical Damage)
AP = Ability Power
AS = Attack Speed
AoE = Area of Effect
CC = Crowd Control
CDR = Cooldown Reduction
HP = Health
MP = Mana
LS = Life Steal
MD = Magic Damage
MR = Magic Resistance
MS = Movement Speed
OOM = Out of Mana
MP5 = Mana Regeneration per 5 seconds
HP5 = Health Regeneration per 5 seconds
Mpn = Magic Penetration
Arp = Armor Penetration

I don't "hate" the AP AListar builds. I have tested a few and just think that if you want to play an AP charaacter then there are better choices out there, like Annie, Brand, or Ryze. When I played AP Alistar I just felt like I was letting my team down. Where I think Alistar truely shines is assisting your team (mainly your carries or jungler) getting ganks and peel off kills in team fights. Of course keeping the opposite teams support pinned down while your team picks off the carries is viable as well.

I think the item choices are pretty self explanitory aside from one. I get Shurelya's Reverice as my last core item so that I get max use out of the starting philosopher's stone. The Banshee's Veil is more of a mid to late game pickup item that will greatly increse your life span, lol.

Last hitting mobs is pretty easy with Alistar. There is a bigger window for error than with other character I have played. Generally you want to wait until the mob is just under about 20-25% HP before you last hit.

For lvls 1-8 try focusing on last hitting mobs and try to get that Philosopher's Stone out asap. You will generally be asigned to either top or bottom lane. Whatever the case you want to keep the fight about in the middle. Once you have both pulverize and headbut you can start pulling the fight closer to your own tower for ganking opportunities. Try to get in a lane with a ranged carry. I say this because you will save yourself a lot of frustration over lost kill opportunities with your knock up and knock back combos if you have someone who can easily pick off people that almost get away.

By mid game, lvls 9-14 (about), you should have a good bit of your items and should be able to tank team fights and towers if needed. Mid game is also where I start lane changing and looking for ganking opportunities.

You should be an unstopabull (lol get it?) juggernaut able to heal yourself back to full in no time. With all the reduced cooldown %, you should also be able to nearly spam your abilities at will. Late game is all about the team fights and your team has a huge advantage here...you! Is there a Soraka making your teams life a nightmare? Knock her into the air and stun her for 1.5 secs then send her packing away from your teams kill target (assuming you aren't killing her). the biggest thing is to communicate with your team and coordinate your combo woth them.

Well I think I got everything out that needed to be said. As I said before this is my first guide so be gentile, lol. Any constructive criticism will be both greatly appreciated and most welcomed. The other character I play is Janna so if this guide goes over somewhat well then I will try my hand at that. Thanks again for reading everyone and have fun!


Sorry for any gramatical errors. At the time of writing I am running on 2 hours of sleep and 2 redbulls. O_o